Kailey McSteen

Mr. Malone

AP World History

May 11, 2018

In Class Long Essay

There were various challenges to the existing political orders in many nations that led to

global conflicts or regional military conflicts in the period 1900-2001. Some widespread trends

that were occurring during the period 1900-2001 include new technological advances, global

conflicts, and new conceptualizations in society and culture. This is relevant to the prompt

because the new technological advances led to rebellions and revolutions against existing

political orders in different nations such as Russia and Latin America, which led to global or

regional conflicts. The emergence of world-wide conflicts contributed to the development of new

weapons, which affected existing political order. In the period 1900-2001, challenges to the

existing political orders in Germany and Russia led to both regional conflicts and global

conflicts, such as world war II, the Russian Revolution, and the Cold War.

The challenges the German political order faced in the early 1900s is ultimately what led to

emergence of world war II. In 1911, Germany was ruled by a president, Paul Von Hindenburg,

who was the head of the Weimar Republic. This system of rule did not last long because Hitler

was hungry for power, and he wanted to rule Germany. Hitler served as a soldier in world war I,

and he blamed German Jews and communists for the loss. Hitler challenged the existing German

political order as he gained power and moved up the ranks, eventually becoming dictator of

Germany. This emergence of dictatorships was a common theme in world history in that
continued over the 1900s, and this can be shown in the dictatorships that emerged in Italy and

Latin America. Benito Mussolini was the dictator of Italy. Hitler becoming dictator led to world

war II, a global conflict, because he rallied the German army and encouraged the expansion of

Germany into all parts of Europe.

The political order in Russia went through turmoil in the early part of the 1900s, which led to

the emergence of regional military conflicts. Russia was ruled by the court of Tsar Nicholas II up

until 1916. The challenges that the tsar faced is that he was unable to provide food and fuel to all

the Russian people, which created widespread hunger and anger. The court of Tsar Nicholas II

was also corrupt. These political challenges created regional military conflict in Russia because

the tsar abdicated, and the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks were fighting for control of the

Russia. Civil wars are a continuity in world history. The Russian Civil war can be compared to

the American civil war between the confederates and the union soldiers. In the end, Vladimir

Lenin took control of Russia under socialist rule. Lenin was successful in ruling the socialist

government in Russia, and Stalin continued to rule Russia with a socialist outlook after Lenin.

As world war II came to a close in 1945, Germany experienced more challenges to the

existing political order, which led to the one major global conflict. When world war II ended,

Hitler committed suicide, so the dictatorship in Germany ended. This was a challenge to the

existing political order because the leader of the dictatorship was gone. World War II had caused

many European political orders to be questioned or destroyed. The challenges to the existing

political order in Germany caused the Cold War to emerge because Germany was no longer a

major political influence on the rest of Europe, so the Soviet Union saw this as an opportunity to

spread socialist principles to other European nations. The United States wanted to prevent the

spread of socialism, so they tried to influence many nations to support capitalism. The Cold War
was a global conflict because the allies of both the Soviet Union and the United States got

involved.

Overall, challenges to the existing political orders of many nations in the 1900s caused both

regional and global conflicts to occur. As an insightful connection across time periods,

challenges to existing political orders has always happened, and this can be shown in the French

Revolution. There were challenges with the three estates in France because people claimed that

the Churchmen had too much power. These challenges with the existing political order led to a

regional conflict, the French revolution. Regional and Global conflicts are a common trend in

world history that will continue to happen.